Need an estimate

[TheBarrowDowns]

Hey everyone,
I'm thinking of buying an old powerbook from a friend of mine and I'd like to know what you guys think it's worth. It's one of the original titanium powerbooks. Some wear around the edges and on the mouse, heat sensitive thingy. And a busted DVD player. I'm not aware of any hardware upgrades and all software except that which came with it will be erased. I think it might be about 25 gb of harddisk space and processor speed of around 400 i think. Thanks for your help...

 

[jsw]

I'm not sure of the correct pricing, but I'd stay away - broken DVD player means either no optical drive or buying a new one (not cheap) - and an optical drive is very important to have. Original TiBook means it's getting old (this from a 1999 PB owner, so old isn't necessarily bad, but a consideration). 400 MHz is slow. And the battery is probably not all that great.

If it were in working condition (including the optical), it'd be worth considering, but it's already falling apart.

Keep in mind that a $999 (or less, if you're student) iBook will crush this PB and that this old one will have a hard time running Tiger (if that matters).

I'd keep looking, unless you can get it for a couple hundred or less. Maybe.

 

[emw]

As jsw says, unless you can get in for about $200, I'd stay away. You'll need to invest at least $200 to get a new optical in it, assuming you install it yourself, and probably another $100 for a new battery.

Many times you can find good deals on refurbished products from Apple as well, which you know will work.

 

[jamdr]

I agree, the most I would pay for that thing is $200, maybe $250. A 400MHz G4 PowerBook would probably run for about $450-$500 if it was in good condition. However, considering this thing has a broken optical drive and sounds like it's in poor cosmetic condition, I think $200 is fair. One very important thing to consider if you are going to buy it is the condition of the screen. If there are no dead pixels and no fading or other blemishes, just the screen itself would be worth $250-$300 if you parted it out. So definitely check out the screen very carefully before you buy.

 

[Blackheart]

It can't have a 25GB hard drive... unless it's upgraded but you said you didn't think so. The TiBook 400's came stock with a 10GB hard drive.

On a related note to this thread, what do you guys think I could get for the TiBook in my sig? Some scratches on the exterior, <6 dead pixels, small line on screen from keyboard<->screen issue.

 

[TheBarrowDowns]

Update

Ok, thank you everyone, this was probably the wrong way to go about it but what I described was the worst case scenario. How much would you say it would be if i didn't need to replace the optical thingy, and it WAS in fact upgraded to 25 gb?

 

[jsw]

Ok, thank you everyone, this was probably the wrong way to go about it but what I described was the worst case scenario. How much would you say it would be if i didn't need to replace the optical thingy, and it WAS in fact upgraded to 25 gb?

The 25GB upgrade is, I suppose, worth something, but not a lot - still, it's a usable size. The poor cosmetic condition leads me to suggest $400 or less as a price - as mentioned above, you can get ones in great shape for $450-$500.

If I were you, I'd try to spend a couple hundred more and get a newer/faster system. My 400MHz G3 still works OK with Panther, but it won't run Tiger, and this 400MHz G4 will probably run Tiger acceptably, but it doesn't sound like it's in very good shape, leading me to wonder how long it'll last.

 

[TheBarrowDowns]

Yeah, the thing is this will be the first computer I buy. I'm using my parents eMac right now, and this is would really be my first machine. I'm not too worried about it lasting a real long time, I just need something to hold me over until I can afford somethign nice.

 

[Rod Rod]

Yeah, the thing is this will be the first computer I buy. I'm using my parents eMac right now, and this is would really be my first machine. I'm not too worried about it lasting a real long time, I just need something to hold me over until I can afford somethign nice.

You could get a Power Mac G4 for about the same money (~$350) and upgrade it incrementally... an extra hard drive, upgraded optical, video card, and so on. It won't be portable but upgrades will be much more affordable and you'll have room to grow. If your family doesn't have an unused CRT monitor sitting around, you should be able to find something for $20 or so on your local craigslist. Otherwise, you may as well save up a little bit more and get a Mac mini.